Example Of Support From Ann Weight Loss Forum

To demonstrate the sort of diet issues we deal with on our weight loss forum, here is a recent exchange between a member, the forum director.

Question From Member:

Only ending my 3rd week, and I’ve hit a funk…. and I don’t know what happened! It came to a head yesterday, when we had a Memorial Day breakfast potluck. I think I ate 1200 calories for breakfast (and I was one of the few who ate the least!). Later I topped this off with Mexican food and AFTER I told myself I was going to eat healthy and tomorrow’s a new day…. but, today I’m just as bad…Help!

Answer

“In one of your posts you said that “I’ve been bouncing back and forth between diets since high school, and I’ve been through about 4 in the past 4 months (no lie!)”. Believe me, you are not alone in this – thousands of other women do the same thing. Diet after diet, year after year, and in most cases the end result is you are heavier than when you started. I don’t know if you are currently at your heaviest weight, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you are. And this is despite dieting since high school and starting a different diet every month.

Could it be that you want to lose weight, but you don’t want to change your eating habits? You want to go on doing the things you normally do – eat the same as everyone else, eat the things you have always eaten at your favorite restaurant, snack on the same foods you normally snack on? I understand this perfectly. None of us want to give up the things we like, which is why it is so important to want to lose weight MORE than you want these foods.

You also said in one of your posts “I’m so tired of feeling fat…!”

What has happened to change this desire to change? Is it that when you are faced with a decision about what to eat, you put your desire to lose weight to the back of your mind and only bring it out again after you’ve eaten what you want? Again, this is perfectly normal but if you continue to do this then it really doesn’t matter how many diets you go on – you will never lose weight.

Somebody wrote to me a while back and said “I can’t stand diet tedium and have tried every diet, pill and supplement on the market”. This person was in her mid-50’s, weighed over 200 pounds and has been dieting since her teens.

Even though I knew exactly what she meant, I asked her did she ever think about it the other way round? For example, how about saying to to herself “I can’t stand the restrictions of being overweight, it’s so boring. I want to enjoy the rest of my life without these restrictions.”

You see, everything has a price: If you eat what you want, the price is you put on weight. If you stick to your diet, the price is you can’t eat everything you want.

It applies to everything in life: If you spend all your money as you earn it, the price is you don’t have security. If you don’t work hard in your job, the price is you don’t get promoted. And so on. WE CHOOSE what we think is worth the effort and what isn’t.

So, the bottom line is, what do you want? Do you want to lose weight, and feel and look better? Or, do you want to continue eating the same and feeling the same as you do now?

You’ve got your whole life ahead of you and you can either spend it worrying about weight or you can decide now to get rid of that weight and get on with other more exciting things. Either way, it’s your call.